My question for the science fair is, how do different types of baseball bats effect the distance of the ball? There are three main types of bats that I want to investigate. They are bats made of wood, aluminum, and composite (a type of plastic). There are three key terms that can help answer my question: Density, Acoustics, and Physics. Density is the amount of mass in a given volume. Acoustics are the points along the bat that will amplify the vibration of the ball, causing the ball to go further. Physics involves the maximum speed needed to achieve the maximum distance. The higher the speed, the further the ball will travel.
The density of the baseball bat plays a huge part in how hard the ball is hit. Density is the amount of mass in a given volume or in similar terms; the weight of an object. Florida state university did a study on how the weight of a bar effects how far the ball will be hit. The weight of the ball, the speed of the pitch, and the speed of the swing were all the constants during the experiment. The only thing that was changed was the mass of the bat. The data turned out just as you would think. The heavier bat hit the ball further because there is more momentum going forward at the ball. This causes more force and the ball to go further. With a lighter bat such as an aluminum or composite bat, there is less momentum. According to that test you would think that the wooden bat would be the best choice, but many other factors come into play when finding out which bat hits the farthest.
Some people , such as young players, may not like using the wood bat because it is heavy and harder to swing than bats such as the aluminum and composite. In addition, young players are not strong enough to swing wooden bats fast enough to react to the ball being pitched. So they use lighter bats which almost doubles the swing speed, therefor equaling out for the loss in weight from the wooden bat to the aluminum or composite bat.
